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Jake Danna Stevens / Times-Shamrock
Former Scranton school director Mark Kandel, right, enters the William J. Nealon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Scranton on Dec. 5, 2012. Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo ordered Kandel to 14½ years in federal prison for repeated sexual communications with minors.

WILKES-BARRE - Mark Kandel's daughter pleaded with a federal judge Monday to hammer her father with a severe prison sentence for sexting teenage boys, many of them her friends.

Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo soon did just that, ordering the former Scranton school director to 14½ years in federal prison for repeated sexual communications with minors.

Sarah Kandel, 16, told the judge she felt betrayed, disgusted and humiliated after her father's "double life" was exposed last year when Kandel was charged with sexually explicit enticement of boys.

Many of the boys he preyed on, Sarah Kandel explained, were her classmates.

"This man, who I'm now ashamed to call my father, went after my own friends," she said. "He's the epitome of selfishness. Not once has he apologized or given us an explanation of what he did."

Caputo told Mark Kandel his actions were "depraved."

"This is a very serious offense," Caputo said. "It's not acceptable in our world."

Prosecutors claimed Mark Kandel, of Blakely, sent more than 13,000 messages, most of them sexual in nature, to 17 juvenile boys during a short period of time in 2012.

Sarah Kandel told the judge her father was obsessed with texting on his smartphone, and wouldn't even care to look up and say hello when she and her sister returned home from school each day.

"He was a stranger in our home. He had no time for us," she said.

One of the victims, now a college student, testified that Mark Kandel sent him a nude photo and repeatedly sent him sexual messages. The victim said he engaged in self-mutilation and attempted suicide after being ridiculed by classmates after he came forward to report Mark Kandel. Mark Kandel attempted to arrange meetings that prosecutors said the victim believed would have been sexual encounters.

"I am a victim of Mark Kandel," the teenager proclaimed.

Mark Kandel, who holds a doctorate degree in learning disabilities and special education, served nearly two terms on the Scranton School Board before resigning in 1998 and worked as behavior management specialist at Northeast Educational Intermediate Unit.

He apologized during his chance to address Caputo.

"I take full responsibility for my inappropriate behavior. I have fallen as low as a person can fall," Kandel said. "I lost my family, friends, reputation, employment and freedom. I express deep regrets for the pain and suffering I have caused them."

Mark Kandel was previously charged in 2008 with furnishing alcohol to minors at a party at his home. He was sentenced to 90 days house arrest in that case.

Prosecutors and Kandel's attorney, Frank J. Santomauro, had agreed to a sentence between 13 and 19 years in prison on the current charges. On Monday, Santomauro asked Caputo to sentence him to the low end of the range.

"What is sufficient and not greater than necessary?" Santomauro said. "He lost everything. To lose your family, it's almost like a bullet between the eyes. Life as he's known it is gone. How much more can one man take?"

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Olshefski argued for a lengthy sentence, up to the 19 years, noting that the defendant traumatized his own daughters by his conduct.

"His victims were their classmates," she noted.

bkalinowski@citzensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

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